Micheal Haley played for the Florida Panthers during last year's shooting at Stoneman Douglas High School.

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San Jose Sharks’ Micheal Haley (38) is photographed on the ice during morning practice before Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Finals against the Pittsburgh Penguins at Consol Energy Center in Pittsburgh, Pa., on Monday, May 30, 2016. (Josie Lepe/Bay Area News Group)

Sharks forward Michael Haley can’t erase the memory of Feb. 14, 2018, when a teen gunman murdered 17 students and staff members at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida.

Haley, 32, and his family lived near the school when the incident took place because he played for the Florida Panthers, who play the Sharks on Thursday night at SAP Center.

“Something like that is awful wherever it happens,” Haley said. “But when it’s that close to home, it really hits you. It was tough. It’s still tough.”

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Haley, who the Sharks claimed off waivers in February, lived in Parkland for more than a year while playing for the Panthers. His son’s preschool was located near Stoneman Douglas.

The Sharks’ tough guy learned about the shooting after the Panthers morning skate in Vancouver that day. Haley felt “helpless” after talking to his wife by phone. The gunman was still at large while Stephanie Haley, Hudson, 4, and Taylor, 1, were stuck in gridlock as parents abandoned cars in a scramble to reach their kids on campus.

“They didn’t have anybody in custody, so it was an eerie, awful feeling,” Haley recalled. “I can only imagine what it would have been like if one of your children were in that school. We didn’t know if there was one shooter or more. Helpless is the only word to describe it.”

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Stephanie Haley and the boys made it home after stuck in traffic for about five hours. Haley, meanwhile, helped the Panthers earn a 4-3 victory over the Vancouver Canucks, fighting through the distraction of the chaos back at home.

The Parkland incident also affected Sharks coach Pete DeBoer, who managed the Panthers from 2008 to 2011. DeBoer lived about a mile from Stoneman Douglas when coaching in Florida. He knows several parents whose kids were in the building during the shooting, including the Panthers former athletic trainer Dave Zenobi.

“You’re just shocked,” DeBoer said. “You never think it can get close to you. You see so much of it on the news that you get numb to it until you realize, hey, I was right there. Then, it hits home, which is probably good.”

When the Panthers returned to Florida six days after the episode they became a source of comfort for the community while playing at the BB&T Center in Sunrise, which is located 13 miles from the school. The team showed a video tribute before their game that night and veteran goalie Roberto Luongo spoke emotionally about taking action against gun violence.

“That was a hard night. It was an emotional game,” Haley said. “After that, our team, we wanted to do the best we could to try and take minds off of the awful. It’s tough to play in those situations, but at the end of the day, the idea was, hopefully, everyone can think about hockey for a couple hours instead of something else.”

"You guys are an inspiration to all of us. At the end of the day, you guys are what's giving us hope for the future."

The Panthers did a good job of following through. Haley took inspiration from meeting the Stoneman Douglas hockey team, who competed in the 2018 High School National Championships in Minnesota after winning a Florida state title. The Panthers offered support by bringing the Stanley Cup to one of their practices and flying the team to nationals in their private jet.

Earlier this season, Haley and his former teammates met the families who lost loved ones in the shooting.

“You look for words, but there’s nothing you can actually say to them that would ever help,” Haley said. “Me, as a father, I couldn’t imagine.”